Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Causation Or Correlation?

The above question is one that scientists - including social scientists - struggle with all the time.

Which brings us to this.

Evidence suggests that Romneycare has reduced mortality rates by about 3%. If we take that as a standard, we might expect Obamacare to reduce mortality rates by about 3%, too, though we will have to wait for all states to implement it.

It certainly seems intuitive that more people having access to medical care would lead to less people dying.  And this looks like a really good study.

So if it is true - and it probably is - then ACA becomes not just an electoral issue and an economic issue but a moral issue.

And that means it is not the same as the frakking Holocaust.

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